Aftermath
by soultaker78
Summary: Sequel to Diplomacy and Defection. New romances bloom as everyone adjusts to the recent changes that have happened. Pairings include ClawdeenxToralei, PurrsephonexJackson, MannyxMeowlody and ScarahxHeath.
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes: this story starts in the middle of chapter eight of the previous story.

….

Clawdeen and Toralei had been talking for some time as the party continued around them. Clawdeen was attempting to get rid of Toralei by telling the werecat about a hunting trip she went on with her dad and brothers.

"And that's how you skin a deer with your teeth," Clawdeen finished.

"Cooooool," Toralei said in fascination.

_Well so much for that plan_, Clawdeen thought to herself. _But as long as Toralei is here, I might as well deal with something that's been bugging me for a while_.

"Do you remember the conversation we had after you tried to make me break up Clawd and Draculara?" Clawdeen asked.

"Yeah. What about it?" Toralei asked.

…..

(Begin flashback)

_Toralei went over to Clawdeen in the halls of the school._

_"I heard Clawd and Draculara are still together," the werecat said. "I'm disappointed that you decided to back down."_

_"Good: that means I did the right thing," Clawdeen shot back._

_"I want you to consider something, Clawdeen," Toralei said as she went up to the werewolf and put her arm over Clawdeen's shoulders. "Think about we could do together: my feline cunning and your canine ferocity combined with... whatever the twins bring to the table. We could be unstoppable." _

_While Toralei was talking, she lowered her hand across Clawdeen's side. _

_"Pass," Clawdeen said as she shrugged Toralei away from her._

…

(End flashback)

"It seems weird to me," Clawdeen continued, "that you tried to talk me into joining you after I told you off like that."

"Not really," Toralei said. "I was trying to salvage any chance I had of turning you against Cleo: what's so weird about that?"

"The part where you got all touchy with me," Clawdeen said with a glare indicating that she wanted an explanation.

"You imagined that part," Toralei explained and Clawdeen kept glaring, showing that much like earlier in the evening, she was not buying what the werecat was selling.

"And why would I do that?" Clawdeen asked venomously as she cocked her hip to the side.

"Because you have repressed, lesbianic feelings for me and don't know what to do with them," Toralei offered as an explanation and Clawdeen continued her glare of 'I know you're full of shit, so why don't you just come clean'. There was an awkward silence for a while.

"It was worth a shot," Toralei said as she slumped her head in defeat. "As you've probably figured out by now, I'm the one with lesbianic feelings."

"Wow," Clawdeen said as she put her hand on her forehead. While she figuring out how exactly she was going to handle this situation, her acute werewolf nose picked up a scent she thought she recognized. She took a few sniffs and was not happy to discover who the scent belonged to. "There is great evil among us."

"Oh, Nefera's here," Toralei said as the speakers cut out. "There are a few words I've been meaning to share with her. We'll pick this up later."

_Unfortuately, you're right_, Clawdeen thought as Toralei went to face someone whose narcism made Cleo seem humble by comparison. She knew that for there to be any chance of lasting peace between her friends and Toralei, the werecat's feelings for her would need to be addressed.

...

Later that night, the party had ended and everyone went to their respective homes. Clawdeen and Howleen were in their room, getting ready for bed.

"That was a great party," Howleen said jubilantly. "Any chance I can come to more of your friends' parties?"

"Probably," Clawdeen said. "Cleo and Toralei just settled their crap with each other: anything's possible."

"I had no idea that it would go as smoothly as it did," Howleen said. "Of course, I also had no idea I'd hit it off with Purrsephone as well I did either."

Clawdeen had changed into her pajamas and decided to give Crescent a few strokes before going to sleep. Her parents and siblings thought it was weird that she wanted a cat as a pet but Clawdeen didn't care. She didn't have any of the old hangups when it came to werewolfs and werecats and judging by what Howleen said earlier, neither did she. Clawdeen was very glad to hear that considering what she was about do in regards to Toralei.

...

The next morning, Clawdeen had gotten Toralei's number from Purrsephone. She texted the red-haired werecat that she wanted to talk about the matters at hand in person. After receiving Toralei's address, Clawdeen made her way over there. She knocked at the door and was greeted by a lizard woman with olive green scales wearing a black, flower print dress (which had a slit in the back for her thick tail).

"I must have the wrong address," Clawdeen said. "I'm looking for Toralei Stripe."

"You have the right house," the lizard woman said a bit of an Asian accent then turned around. She went to the living room, found Toralei sleeping on the couch and shook her awake. "Someone's at the door for you, sweetie."

"Thanks mom," Toralei said as she woke up, stood up and went over to see Clawdeen. "Sorry I couldn't greet you: decided to take a cat nap. Come in."

Clawdeen walked inside and went over to Toralei.

"This is my mom, Komodoyoko Shishimura," Toralei said as motioned at the lizard woman.

"Your mom?" Clawdeen said in puzzlement.

"Toralei's adopted," Komodoyoko said and then picked up a plate of black lumps from a nearby coffee table. "Would you care for a snack?"

"What are these things?" Clawdeen asked.

"Grasshoppers preserved in soy," Toralei said as she grabbed one and ate it. "They're pretty good."

_No way I'm backing down from this, _Clawdeen thought, interpreting Toralei's unusual snack choice as a challenge. She picked up one of the grasshoppers and ate it.

"Not bad," Clawdeen said.

"Can you give us some privacy mom," Toralei said, not waiting for an answer as she led Clawdeen to the den and they sat down on two chairs.

"While that was interesting," Clawdeen said, "we need to get down to business. You've had feelings for me since last year."

"Yes," Toralei admitted.

"And you told me that thing about Grizzoli and Biles last night because you wanted to get an idea of how I felt about gayness."

"Also yes."

"Why is this the first time I've heard about this?"

Toralei took a deep breath. "You were on good terms with Cleo," she began. "I interpreted that as you taking her side against me and that talking things out wouldn't get me anymore."

"So rather than try talking things out," Clawdeen began, "you decided to start doing revenge pranks with everyone thinking you were just a bitch." Clawdeen's eyes widened a bit as she realized that her statement could apply to how Toralei handled her issues with Clawdeen, Cleo and Purrsephone. "You have shitty conflict resolution skills."

"I am starting to see that about me," Toralei said. "In fact, Purrsephone and Cleo have shown me just how much can come from a gesture of good faith so I'm going to share something with you: my mom lied to you earlier, I'm not adopted."

"Huh?" Clawdeen said as she took an expression of pure confusion as she tried to put this together.

"This will probably help you make sense of it," Toralei said as she pulled a picture out of one of her jacket pockets. "I should warn you: you may find this to be disturbing."

"Well now I have to see it," Clawdeen said as she took the picture from Toralei. She looked at the picture and was simultaneously hit by both comprehension and more confusion. "You hatched from an egg?"

"Yes I did," Toralei said as she took the picture back. They waited a bit as Clawdeen attempted to understand what she just learned. "That's my only reptilian trait as far as I know, in case you were wondering."

"Good to know," Clawdeen said, starting to snap out of it.

_I am so glad Purrsephone didn't leak this to the web,_ Toralei thought, happy that she defused her problems with Purrsephone before the dark-haired twin pulled the pin on her blackmail plan.

"I'm sorry my mom lied to you," Toralei said. "Saying I'm adopted is easier than explaining the truth for so many reasons."

"I get that," Clawdeen said.

"I should explain my family history," Toralei said as she got up and grabbed a picture from a nearby table. She handed the picture to Clawdeen and she saw that it was of a young Toralei, Komodoyoko and a male werecat who had Toralei's coat and hair colors. "That is my dad. He died about five years ago. About two years ago, my mom remarried to a werecat man named Rio Shishimura. Rio and my dad were friends and coworkers at the same private security company. He had honorary uncle status with me years before my dad died, so there are definitely worse people to be a step-dad."

"This is all fascinating, Toralei," Clawdeen said. "And I'm very happy that you've shared all this with me so I'm going to hare something with you: I am open-minded to liking you back in the way you like me."

"Really," Toralei said playfully. "I had no idea you were into other ghouls."

"No one does," Clawdeen said. "I've kept it to myself for now. And while you are nowhere near as bad as I used to think you were, I want to take things slow. And as long as we're sharing things, tell me why you like me."

Toralei grinned like the Cheshire cat upon hearing this. "You are beautiful, fierce, energetic and from how happy I've seen others around you, a great friend."

It wasn't very visible under her fur, but Clawdeen blushed at Toralei's comment. She was looking forward to how Toralei would express her feeling for her in the future.

….

Author's notes: I'm not done with this couple yet, so things will develop further between them but not for a long time.

Also, I came up with this idea before Freaky Fusion, as you could probably tell.


	2. Chapter 2

It was Wednesday morning at Monster High. Purrsephone had received a text from Frankie saying that the patchwork ghoul wanted to talk to the werecat in person before class. They found a spot away from most other people

"What's up?" Purrsephone asked.

"I got a call from Jackson last night," Frankie said. "He said that things had changed and that he only wanted to be friends with me."

"I see," Purrsephone said as she thought this over. She then thought about the conversation she had with Jackson last Friday. "Oops."

"Oops what?" Frankie asked.

"I meant to plant the idea," Purrsephone started, "that there are other options for Jackson than pining over you but looking back on what I said, I was much less subtle than I thought I was being."

"Okay," Frankie said as she processed this. "It's not really that big a deal. In fact, this works out even better than what we were planning because this way, I don't have to reject him at all."

"Speaking of rejection," Purrsephone said, "I think you should wait a few days before deciding to pick Holt. Otherwise, it might look like you were waiting for the perfect opportunity to ditch Jackson and pick him."

Just then, Purrsephone's phone went off.

"Well speak of the incredibly nerdy but cute devil," she said. "I just got a text from Jackson: he wants to meet at lunch to talk about something."

...

At lunch that day, Purrsephone and left the creepateria and went to the area of the catacombs where she and Jackson had their first conversation last year, as per instructions he texted her. She saw him come up to her.

"Hi Jackson," she said.

"Hey," he said then took a deep breath. "When we were last here, you did a great thing for me by explaining how I shouldn't have worried too much about Toralei. You told me to act like we never had that conversation and I did: mostly because I was focused on Frankie at the time. But after talking with you recently and seeing you broker peace between Cleo and Toralei, I see now that you are a special and very interesting ghoul that I would like to know more."

Jackson finished this by grabbing Purrsephone's hand.

"I'd like you to know me too," she said as she returned Jackson's grip.

They stared into each other's eyes for a bit before Purrsephone gave Jackson's arm a tug. She kissed him and he kissed her back. They stayed like that for some time.

...

While this was going on, Heath and Scarah were having lunch together.

"So I heard," Heath started, "that you helped with the recent peace making between Cleo and Toralei."

"Not much," Scarah said. "All I did was force Purrsephone to step up her time table."

"Still, it's pretty cool that you had a part in it," Heath said. "I also heard that Toralei is having try outs for her own fearleading team: are you gonna join?"

"No," Scarah answered. "I didn't have that great a time as a fearleader. I had to stay quiet because of my voice so all I mostly did was prop up the fearamid."

"That's too bad," Heath said. "You looked really hot in that uniform."

This caused Scarah to blush a deeper shade of green on her cheeks.

"So, I've been thinking," Heath said and then stopped with his mouth agape. "Of course, you already know what I'm thinking."

"Yes I do," Scarah said. "Just so we're clear, in this case it was like overhearing a loud conversation: I picked up stuff without trying to because you were thinking about it so much. And yes Heath, I would like to continue seeing you."

Scarah felt the relief and joy from Heath's mind. She decided to pry a little deeper and could tell that while a significant amount of Heath's feelings for her were based on physical lust (mostly of the 'making out' variety), a greater amount wasn't. She was going to continue seeing Heath for a while and probably satiate his lust at some point.

…..

Author's notes: I apologize for the brevity. There wasn't a whole lot to say here, mostly because all the PurrsephonexJackson groundwork had been laid out in the previous story.


	3. Chapter 3

That Friday, Meowlody had opened her locker and saw that someone had slipped a note through one of the cracks. She opened it and it read:

_Dear Meowlody,_

_I know this breaks the terms you gave me, but I need to talk to you. We can meet up at your favorite ice cream shop after school: my treat. Text me if you agree._

_P.S. did you get my flowers?_

_Sign,_

_Manny_

Meowlody sighed. She and Manny dated for a while and Meowlody called it off. She said that she needed some space and time to decide if she wanted to keep seeing him and if he wanted her to keep seeing him, he should keep his distance for one month. The closest thing Manny had done to getting too close for her comfort was dropping off at flowers at her house when he heard about her emu related injury in Canada. That month hadn't expired yet, so Meowlody knew that this was probably important for Manny to ignore her terms. She pulled out her icoffin and began a text message.

**See you at the shop after school. BTW, thx for the flowers. **

...

After school, Meowlody went to the ice cream shop and met Manny.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she replied.

They went to the counter, got their ice cream and sat down at a table.

"I'm sorry for breaking the terms you gave me," Manny began, "but something's driving me crazy and I need to ask you about it. I take it you've heard about how your sister and that dweep Jackson are officially a thing now?" Meowlody nodded yes. "This is a problem for me because Jackson and I have a... complicated history."

"That's how you describe you trying to shove him into his locker hard enough to make him a permanent fixture?" Meowlody asked. Manny chuckled at the werecat's description and then stopped when he saw her glaring at him.

"Anyway," Manny said, eager to move forward, "I can imagine that you and your sister dating both of us at the same time would be super weird for you cause I know it would be super weird for me and I need to know if Purrsephone and Jackson getting together is a deal breaker for me."

"There's nothing to worry about, Manny," Meowlody said. "Them being together is not a deal breaker for you."

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that," Manny said in relief. "When I thought that that normie dingus had cost me any chance I had with you... well, the only reason I didn't beat the crap out of him is because doing that would have cost me any chance with you."

"And I thank you for that on Purrsephone's behalf," Meowlody said, then sighed in frustration. "She really put us in a weird situation by going on out Jackson. You know she's only this because it's something I wouldn't do."

"Because she wants people to see her as her own individual," Manny said.

"Yeah," Meowlody said. "Which I don't understand: the way I see it if anyone's stupid enough to think we're the same person because we look a like, we shouldn't care what they think anyway."

"We all have our own issues," Manny said. "Like you and that thing with closed doors."

Meowlody thought about his for a while. "You might have a point," she said. They sat in silence for a while as they finished their ice cream.

"So I've noticed that Clawdeen and Toralei are fanging out a lot lately," Manny said. "What's the deal there?"

"What do you mean?" Meowlody asked.

"Are they getting together too? Because that would be...," Manny stopped when he noticed Meowlody glaring at him in a way that told him he should think very hard about how he finished that sentence.

_This is not good_, Manny thought to himself. _I really need to say..._

"Something not sexist," Manny said aloud. Meowlody chuckled at this.

"A for effort Manny," she said. "But how did you know that Toralei is sometimes into ghouls?"

"You mean it's supposed to be a secret?" Manny asked.

"I told her that the biker babe look didn't exactly scream 'I'm into guys'," Meowlody said with a hint of irritation.

They talked for a while and Meowlody decided that between how much she liked being with Manny and playing 'I can date someone that makes things awkward for you too' with Purrsephone, she was going to get back together with Manny.


	4. Chapter 4

The following Saturday, the werecat trio had gathered with Operetta, Jackson, Manny and Clawdeen in the catacombs underneath Monster High. The twins had brought a rather large amount of their grandma's glaucoma medication with them. The twins handed out joints to everyone except Clawdeen, who decided to fang out with everyone else but wasn't interested in partaking of the twin's generosity. Everyone else sat down against the wall and lit up.

Operetta put on some regae music from a stereo she brought with her. Clawdeen was enjoying the relaxing music despite the lack of intoxication was using this time to think of new design ideas. After a while, the effects of the weed were starting to kick in. Operetta and the werecats weren't very affected due to experience but Jackson and Manny weren't so lucky.

"Jackson," Manny said with a slur, "I am so sorry for all that stuff I did to you." Jackson was unresponsive to this apology as he just stared into space. "You okay man?"

"I can taste sound," Jackson said, glossy-eyed and spaced out. Purrsephone chuckled at this and snuggled up to him.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Clawdeen asked. "Is he about to overdose?" Toralei and Operetta laughed uproariously at her question. "What's so funny?"

"You have a lot to learn about how weed really works," Operetta said through bits of laughter.

"Remind me to give you a pamphlet later," Toralei said and then held out a joint for Clawdeen. "Unless you want to learn from experience."

"I'm good," Clawdeen declined.

_Maybe when I'm not around so many people_, Clawdeen thought. _At the very least, this thing I've started with Toralei is going to be interesting._

Meowlody was sitting next to Manny and was very pleased with how chill he currently was. As much as she liked him, his temper could be very annoying to deal with. She was considering sharing her grandma's glaucoma medicine with him becoming a regular thing, if only to reduce the odds of her boyfriend trying to pound her sister's boyfriend into the ground like a railroad spike.

Purrsephone was thinking about her opinion on Jackson. As much as she thought his being overwhelmed by the effects of the weed was funny, she wasn't happy that she was going out with such lightweight.

_To be fair, _Purrsephone thought, _this is his first time with any kind of illicit drug and the stuff my grandma uses is pretty potent. Hopefully, he'll get better with time._

The monster teens stayed like that for a while and enjoyed themselves. The werecat twins snuggled up to their highly spaced out boyfriends. They all stayed like that while Clawdeen thought about what else Toralei might get her into.

…..

Author's notes: sorry for the weak ending, but I didn't know what else to do with this. I will put up a story in the next few weeks that will be a prequel detailing Toralei's trip to Japan that has been mentioned. It will be in the crossover section with Kamen Rider.


End file.
